


This is a Christmas movie?

by MzMarbles



Category: Being Human (UK)
Genre: Gen, Mindless xmas fluff, where nothing bad happens
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2015-12-28
Packaged: 2018-05-09 21:50:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,253
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5556758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MzMarbles/pseuds/MzMarbles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring, except for the ghost curled up on the sofa quietly crying and staring at a collection of seasonal movies she’d ‘borrowed’ from the library.</p><p>Obvious thanks go to Mr. Whitehouse and the BBC for the characters, they are nearly endless fun to play with. And I thought it might be nice for them to enjoy a holiday. Cheers!</p><p>There's a sequel to this and it's every bit as fluffy as this one was. Check it out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	This is a Christmas movie?

Christmas was a day like any other for Hal, Tom was only just discovering how much fun it could be and Alex was experiencing her first holiday as a ghost. The quiet crying slowly invaded Hal’s pleasantly dreamless sleep and dragged him into wakefulness. There was a time when that sound in the night would have evoked a very different reaction. Now he just put on a pair of cotton trousers and a t-shirt and went downstairs to investigate. 

The tree that Tom had found in the spare attic room was still lit and Alex sat on the sofa holding a pile of DVD cases and quietly sobbing. She had shooed Hal and Tom to bed earlier in the evening and assured them that she was going to stay up watching telly. It was okay, she had said. She’d be fine, she lied. 

“Alex, why didn’t you say anything.”

She turned to see Hal standing in the doorway next to the bar, she wiped away a tear that she was surprised she could still produce. 

“I didn’t want you to be right,” she said. “I thought it’d be a day just like every other day I’ve spent without my brothers, without my dad, but it’s worse. And I’m just as annoyed that you were right as I am sad about the whole thing.”

Hal approached the sofa and sat at a measured distance. He briefly contemplated reaching out to her. He had tried to comfort Pearl on a few occasions and it had gone spectacularly poorly until it became clear that Pearl had wanted the comfort just not from Hal. Still, he knew he was likely the last person who should be offering comfort to anyone, he kept his hands firmly on his knees. He wished that Tom wasn’t still sleeping off the full moon otherwise he might have come down instead. The man could sleep through a freight train derailing most days as it is.

“Is there anything I can do?” he asked.

Alex put the pile of movies on the coffee table. Hal recognized the cover on the top of the pile as a cartoon that Pearl had forced on him every Christmas since it came into being, but he had grown to like it (a step up from merely tolerating it). 

“Every Christmas eve at home after my mom left we decided we would start early. We would stay up all night, let my younger brothers stay up as late as they could since there was no school or anything the next day. We’d all pile onto the sofa and watch Christmas movies until the last of us had fallen asleep. Usually it was just me and my oldest brother that were still awake in the morning. The rest of them were just a pile of snoring boys, my dad included.

“Which ever one of us stayed awake the longest got first crack at the presents under the tree while the rest were asleep,” she said and smiled looking at the few packages under the ugly tree by the front window. Even if it was an ugly tree with mismatched and outdated decorations it was a far nicer thing to have in that space than a reinforced chair…

“I know I said I wanted to say good bye to them, I know I need to let them go, but I went up there anyway,” she said and started to sniffle again. “They were all on the sofa, everyone of them fast asleep already and it was barely midnight.

“And I know you don’t like it when I ‘borrow’ things,” she said pointing at the pile of films. “But I hardly think the library will notice that these are gone for the night.”

“I think I can make an exception in this case,” Hal said. “It is Christmas after all, technically.”

She let out a little laugh, “Happy Christmas, Hal.”

“Happy Christmas,” he said and stared at the mantel for a moment. Tom had found all of the holiday decorations in the attic from when this was a functional B&B. With Alex’s help they had built a nativity scene with plush snow men and plastic reindeer. Santa Claus was the only suitable wise man they could find.

“You probably don’t want to, but would you watch with me?” she asked. “I mean if you want to just go back to sleep or whatever that’s fine… I guess. I can watch them quietly or whatever.” Her voice trailed off and she fiddled with the hem of her dress. 

Hal supposed he could suffer through How The Grinch Stole Christmas one more time. This situation was partly his doing anyway. It was the least he could do.

“Okay,” he said trying to get comfortable on the sofa. “I’ll stay.”

She smiled and got up to put the first DVD into the player. She dropped onto the couch next to Hal and leaned on him whether he was ready for it or not. It was awkward, she had pinned his arm to his side and her elbow was digging into his thigh. 

No, if this was going to involve cuddling it was going to be done properly. He pushed against her lightly and reached for the remote to pause the cartoon. He motioned for her to get up.

“Sorry,” she said. “I figured that would be taking it too far.”

“It’s not that,” he said stretching out on the length of the couch, pressing himself against the back of it, his bottom arm tucked under a cushion, he gestured to her with the other. “One does not live for five hundred years and not learn a thing or two about how to… cuddle.” 

She laughed in spite of herself, she could never picture this vampire cuddling anyone. Ever. Especially after the litany she heard while he was rehabilitating. 

“Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously,” he said. “I can’t hurt you it’s fine.”

She stretched out next to him and he pulled the blanket down from the back of the couch and lightly placed his arm across her waist. 

“Comfortable?” he asked.

“Yeah, actually. This is… nice,” she said and pulled the blanket up further. She started the cartoon again and they watched it quietly. Neither of them admitting that they knew it by heart. 

After the Grinch’s small heart grew two sizes and the roast beast was carved, Alex made good use of her ability to levitate things. She was always practicing, usually at night when she was bored and never really sure if it would come in handy, until now when she didn’t care to get up.

“Well that’s rather handy, isn’t it?” Hal said, clearly impressed, but very aware that he was going to have to stay on the couch through at least one more movie. Which turned out to be an old black and white version of A Christmas Carol. Perhaps this won’t be so bad, Hal thought.

“Dickens,” he said. “A good choice, very festive.”

“I’m glad you approve,” she drawled sarcastically. “Now shush.”

They watched quietly, but before the Ghost of Christmas Past could finish his tour of Scrooge’s teen years Hal had fallen asleep, his nose buried in Alex’s hair. His arm had become something of a dead weight across her waist, but she let him sleep. He had tried. 

He stirred slightly when the Ghost of Christmas Present was announced on the screen, but all he did was mumble and pull Alex closer with his free arm. Alex wasn’t sure if he was dreaming or not, but he seemed content enough so if he was, it probably wasn’t a bad one.

The next movie on the slate was much louder and she hoped that she wouldn’t wake anyone with it. Her brothers and dad had always managed to sleep through it despite their best efforts to make it until morning. And for a while there was relative peace in the living room of Honolulu Heights, until the first explosion.

Hal jerked awake and stared blearily at the screen while John McLean cracked wise into a walkie talkie.

“I fail to see how this is a Christmas movie,” he said.

“Are you kidding? Die Hard is totally a Christmas movie.”

“Die Hard? What?”

Realization dawned on Alex, “You haven’t seen this, have you?”

“It’s not the sort of thing Leo and Pearl would have liked.”

“Well it’s a Christmas movie,” she said and before he could protest further, “And it’s tradition, so shush.”

“But it’s just a man running around with a machine gun.”

“Just watch,” Alex just elbowed him in the ribs, “you’re talking over the best lines, hush.”

Hal tried to settle and watch as one by one each of the terrorists were picked off by the hero of the story, each time he would try to express his disbelief in the plot or physics or the fact that this was still not very festive he was shushed, she even gently kicked him in the shin under the blanket. She was still wearing her boots. Finally Hans Gruber fell to his doom and the credits rolled. Hal appeared to be speechless, but he was just trying to hold back his commentary. He was trying to do something nice for Alex for once, so kept his mouth shut.

“Hey you agreed to watch these movies with me, don’t complain,” she said.

“Exactly, I agreed to watch Christmas movies, not whatever that was.”

“Fine, I won’t make you watch the sequel then.”

“There’s another one?” he asked incredulously.

Alex opted to skip over both Lethal Weapon and Die Hard 2 and move straight to A Christmas Story, much to Hal’s approval. She had lost the will to explain Christmas movies to Hal, it would just be easier to stick to the ones without gun violence. The clock on the wall said it was nearing 4 am. It would be easier for Hal to fall asleep and stop complaining through this one. And true to her prediction, he was out like a light again before Ralphie could ask for that Red Ryder bb gun. And not just dozing either, she always found it alarming the way he would just stop breathing until she remembered they were both technically dead and didn’t need to. She took a deep breath out of spite. 

She found herself starting to drift, her mind wandering a bit in the stillness of the living room. It wasn’t quite like being home with her family, but she was keeping up tradition in her own way, even if it was with an ancient and socially awkward vampire who was surprisingly good at this cuddling thing, considering. Next year she would make sure Tom joined the fun, she was sure she could outlast Tom in staying awake, no one slept more than he did. And she was almost positive he would appreciate Die Hard as a Christmas classic.

When Kevin McAllister started running through the house yelling, Hal only stirred and buried his face further into the cushion. He didn’t wake up. It wasn’t until the burglars were nearly defeated and Tom’s heavy footfalls came stomping down the stairs into the living room, that he finally woke.

“I heard about this movie, that’s the one where the kid has to have Christmas alone, right?” Tom says and then looks down and finally notices Hal and Alex bundled under the same blanket. He forced himself to look away, his face flushing like he’s interrupted something. “I never really got to watch the whole thing, guess I still won’t.”

“It’s okay, Tom,” Alex said sitting up and taking the blanket with her. “You can watch it with us if you want, even if it’s nearly over.”

Hal was watching the screen with a puzzled look on his face as paint cans were dropped through the foyer with precision. He sat up as well and his shoulder made an audible popping noise, he grimaced and rolled it. Alex had to admit he’d made a pretty good pillow. She got up and tossed the blanket at Hal.

“Or you and Hal can watch it over again. He slept through it anyway, I need to stretch my legs. Tea?”

Alex wandered into the kitchen, abandoning Hal with Tom’s holiday excitement, his face had lit up at the prospect of tea and watching Home Alone from beginning to end with his best mates. Hal didn’t have the heart to say no.

“Or,” Hal said trying to rub the sleep from his eyes. “Would you prefer to open presents first? Either way I need tea first.”

Tom looked under the tree, contemplating it. 

“You’re probably right Hal,” he said. “Tea, presents, and then the movie. If that’s a’right.”

Tom was already sitting by the tree shaking the packages, trying to guess what was in them. He already knew what was in most of them, this was just something he’d probably seen someone do in a television show. He picked one of the Christmas Crackers that was tucked into the boughs and wiggled the other end in Hal’s face, daring him to pull the other end. Tom won the larger end to his delight and placed the orange paper crown on his head. He unfurled the joke and stared at it, knitting his eyebrows together.

“What part of the ocean is the deepest?” Tom asked, then he smiled. “You’ll never guess this one Hal.”

“The Marianas Trench,” Hal said, quite sure of himself. “I thought these crackers were supposed to have jokes in them, not trivia.”

“Wrong!” Tom laughed. “It’s ‘the bottom’. Ain’t you s’possed to be the clever one?”

“Too smart for my own good, it would seem,” he said and pulled himself free of the sofa. “I’ll see about that tea, and don’t open anything until we come back.”

In the kitchen he found that the tea was well on its way, Alex had even set a timer for it. It would never be as good as Annie’s tea, but this was a step in the right direction. 

“Thank you, for last night,” Alex said. “I know you don't like being social or contact with anyone or anything or messing up your rota. I mean, I’d still rather not be dead, but that was still a good Christmas Eve.”

“You’re welcome, even if your idea of holiday-themed films is highly suspect,” he said raising an eyebrow.

“There are two kinds of people in this world, Hal. People who know that Die Hard is a Christmas movie and people who are wrong.”

She stood in the kitchen with her arms crossed daring him to make a come back. He didn’t have one.

“Also, you have epic bedhead,” she said as the timer went off as if to provide an exclamation point. Hal tried to run his fingers through the mess of hair on the side of his head, but it only served to make a bigger mess of it. 

She took two mugs in hand and returned to the living room, Hal took his own after adding a bit of water. 

“Aw brilliant, Alex,” Tom said taking his mug. “Cheers.”

Alex set her tea down and started handing out the gifts under the tree, there were only three of them after all and she already knew what some of them were. She had no money to speak of so Tom and Hal had graciously included her name on their gifts to each other. 

Tom eagerly ripped into his gift and tossed the lid aside. He pulled out a stuffed toy wolf, a far cry from the stuffed head of a wolf that he took issue with in the pawn shop. Tom smiled at it. He pulled a card from the bottom of the box and read:

“Thank you for adopting Mosi…” Tom’s brows came together again as he continued to read. “Hal what’s this did you get me a dog?”

“No Tom, it’s a donation in your name. There’s a Conservation Trust for wolves, you can certainly visit that particular wolf if you like someday, but you can’t take her home with you.”

“Wow, Hal. That’s grand of ya, thanks mate,” he said noticing the photo included on the back of the card. “Look at that!” he exclaimed. “Beautiful.”

Alex began to tear the wrapping on her gift, Tom had wrapped it and used up most of the scotch tape. Once she liberated the box and pried the tape from the lid she stared into the box and frowned. 

“Fuzzy slippers,” she said. “Is this some sort of mean joke?”

“Try’em on Alex,” Tom said. 

“But Hal said I can’t change clothes now that I’m a ghost so I can’t take off my boots,” she lifted the faux fur lined slippers from the box and put it aside. “Can I?”

“It’s true, those boots are now a part of you, but you can still take them off,” Hal said. “Annie’s cardigan seemed to have limitless possibilities, I see no reason why you can’t take off your boots and wear something comfortable.”

Alex pulled at the laces of her left boot and pried it off. She wiggled her toes in delight. “Shit the bed! I can take off these stupid boots!” She tossed the boot lightly at Hal who caught it easily. “Why didn’t you tell me I could take these off?”

“I didn’t know that you didn’t know, until Tom mentioned it,” he said. “I’m sorry. You won’t be able to teleport without your boots, I’m afraid, but you should be able to wear those around the house. Wearing them out of the house might cause a stir.”

She pried off the other boot and put her feet into the soft slippers, tapping her feet on the floor in delight at not making a sound. It was a gift for Hal as much as it was for Alex.

“Thanks you two,” she said. “Hal, open yours.”

“Yeah, Hal.”

Hal gently pulled at the ends of the package, taking care not to rip the paper, a difficult task since it appeared that Tom had wrapped this one as well.

“Oh come on, Hal just rip it open!” Alex pleaded.

Hal made a mental note to make an extra domino spiral later today to make up for it. It was becoming increasingly clear that there was no way to carefully unwrap this gift. He tore the paper off and stared at the book in his hands and furrowed his brows at it.

“Twilight,” he said. “Is this what you were referring to before Alex?”

“C’mon,” she said. “Don’t tell me you’ve never actually heard of it?”

Hal shook his head and turned the book over, reading the blurb on the back cover. He slowly raised an eyebrow.

“Open the cover, Hal” Tom said.

He opened the front cover and read: “‘For our favourite vampire, we’re glad you do not sparkle. Love Tom and Alex.’ I don’t get it,” he said.

“You will,” Alex said and stifled a giggle. 

“Right!” Tom exclaimed. “I need some brekkie and then we can watch the movie.” He got up and walked to the kitchen. “This is going to be the best Christmas I ever had!”

Tom came back with a bowl of cereal and sat down on the couch with his stuffed wolf. He looked at the movie cases on the coffee table and picked one of them up.

“Die Hard is a Christmas movie?” he asked. “Can we watch this one first?”

 

**Author's Note:**

> There really is such a thing as the UK Wolf Conservation Trust: https://ukwct.org.uk
> 
> Die Hard really is a Christmas movie, no matter what Hal says.


End file.
